Yahoo News Pep Guardiola's U-turn and Nottingham Forest dig throws down the gauntlet for Man City clash
Pep Guardiola seemingly chose his words carefully when asked about referees in the wake of Nottingham Forest’s angry post-match tweet this week.
There was no mention of the Reds by name, but the inference was clear. And the Manchester City manager will have known what he was doing ahead of Sunday’s clash between the teams at the City Ground.
"Absolutely disagree," Guardiola said, when asked whether it is ever reasonable to dispute the integrity of match officials. "There are always in every league, this will happen more and more but of course I never had doubts about that.
READ MORE: Forest's remaining fixtures compared to relegation rivals
READ MORE: Forest line up VAR row peace talks with PGMOL chief Howard Webb
"The referees want to do the job as best as possible. They feel the pressure, we put pressure on them for the passion of the game for the moment, but when I sit here and reflect they try to do their best and are under scrutiny with the cameras there.
"They make a mistake, they feel bad. It's normal. When they do the job, they want to do it well. The game is so difficult, it is fast and quick, decisions have to be made in one instant. It's not easy."
A subtle (or not-so-subtle) dig at Forest ahead of the game? It certainly had the ring of being one. It was a clever stance ahead of the weekend.
But rewind little more than a year ago and Guardiola apparently had a very different take on officials. Back in March last year, he suggested City were being more harshly dealt with by referees than their rivals.
“How many thousand million games do teams come to Etihad Stadium and waste time for the keepers? Twenty seconds every time – the goal kick, long ball, long ball and nothing happened. Absolutely nothing happened,” he said back then.
“And after we go to Arsenal away, with a team that wants to be active to play and we get a yellow card. That is why I’m far away (from making) comments about the referees because I don’t care one second. They can do whatever they want.”
Quite the about-turn. Many will also point out that talk about “integrity” is perhaps a bit rich coming from a team with 115 Financial Fair Play charges still hanging over them.
There was always going to be a big spotlight on Sunday’s match on the back of Forest’s comments after their defeat at Everton. Every decision made by the officials will be under even greater scrutiny - and whether he intended it or not, Guardiola’s comments only add to that.
It will be interesting to see whether he changes his tune if a key decision or two goes against his team on Sunday. Perhaps he would have a little more sympathy for Forest in that case - just as he suggested City were not getting the rub of the green last year.
The three dismissed penalty claims at Goodison Park were the latest in a long list of controversial calls against the Reds. Neco Williams argued: “Every single week this happens now. We are getting decisions against us. I don’t know why. Is it because we are a lower bottom half of the table team? Because I guarantee all the top six teams are getting every single one of them.” Over to Simon Hooper, the man in charge on Sunday, then.
